HSBC has today posted pre-tax profits of $19 billion (£11.8 billion) for the 2010 year, compared with $7.1 billion for the 2009 year. While the banking giant saw profits double, the results disappointed investors as they were slightly below the $20 billion analysts had expected. Shares in the bank were up 2% prior to the [...]
Britain’s largest building society, Nationwide, has today posted a surge in first half profits. Nationwide said pre-tax profits for the six months to September 30 were £147 million, up from £117 million in the same period a year ago. The company, which is the country’s second-biggest mortgage lender, added that bad debts dropped by 44% [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 83% owned by the taxpayer, today announced a profit for the six months ended June, boosted by falling charges for bad debt. The bank posted a net profit of £9 million ($14.3 million) compared with a £1.04 billion net loss in the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, [...]
The UK’s banking reporting season has got off to a flying start today after banking giant HSBC reported profits more than doubled, exceeding analysts expectations. Europe’s largest bank has today announced a pre-tax profit of $11.1 billion (£7 billion) for the six months to the end of June, compared with $5 billion in the same [...]
Europe’s largest bank HSBC has today announced underlying pre-tax profits for the first quarter of 2010 were well ahead on the same period a year ago. The bank, which does not report full quarterly results, said bad debts fell to their lowest level in two years, while its struggling US business made its first profit [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 84% owned by the taxpayer, has today proved it is on the road to recovery after reporting operating profits of £713 million in the first three months of the year, compared with a £1.35 billion loss in the same period a year earlier. After one-off costs, which included [...]
Banking giant Barclays has today posted a sharp rise in profits for the first quarter of the year. The bank said profit for the three months to 31 March totalled £1.82 billion – a rise of 47% compared with the same period a year ago. The rise was boosted by a reduction in bad debts [...]
Lloyds Banking Group, which is 41% owned by the taxpayer, today said it has returned to profit during the first quarter of 2010, as a result of a reduction in bad debt. The banking giant also said it expects to continue to be profitable for the remainder of the year. The announcement comes just a [...]
It emerged yesterday that Yorkshire Building Society and Chelsea Building Society were in advanced merger talks but today the Yorkshire has revealed that a tie-up would lead to a number of job losses and a £200 million write-down on Chelsea’s bad debts. “The merger will lead to a number of job losses,” the two societies [...]
A study called “Precious Plastic” by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has found that while there has been a “cooling passion” for credit cards, bad credit card debts could jump as much as 9% of all outstanding balances by the end of 2010. According to Richard Thompson, a partner at PwC, over the last year, “there [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has today posted a £1.5 billion operating loss for the third quarter – down 60% compared with the second quarter. The bank, which is now 84% owned by the taxpayers after receiving an additional £33.5 billion in state funding this week, has written off a further £3.3 billion in bad [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is the last bank to publish figures this week, has reported a pre-tax profit of £15 million for the first half of 2009. However, the bank also said it had written off £7.5 billion of bad debts during the period. The bank is 70% owned by the taxpayer [...]
Lloyds Banking Group is the latest bank to announce its first half results and the bank, which is 43% owned by the taxpayer, has slumped to a £4 billion loss. While the bank had warned investors that it would make a loss this year – it wasn‘t as severe as many analysts had originally feared. [...]
The UK’s largest building society, Nationwide, has reported a 69% fall in pre-tax profits to £212 million for the 12 months to April 4, compared with £686 million the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the building society slammed the Treasury’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) (which guarantees savings up to the value of £50,000), [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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